Esper Royale
by ColourfulF
Summary: In an alternate parallel dimension known as the Mirror World, espers fight to the death in an Esper Royale, where the last esper standing will obtain a wish. In this war, there is no right or wrong. All that is there is a genuine desire to obtain that wish. Even the boy named Kamijou Touma who ended up becoming an esper due to his misfortune will realize that. AU.


**Author's Note: **This is a story where I put To Aru characters into a Kamen Rider Ryuki style AU. It's a very different kind of story you see around here, and I don't think many people will like it because who would like to see Mikoto having no powers until she transform into an esper, and being limited by cards.

And then there's no Academy City and all its advanced science thingy; Magic side is totally out of the question. But since I've already written this shit, no harm posting it... and posting it in a section where it gets just a bit more views.

No Kamen Rider Ryuki's character in the story whether be it now or the future, so I guess it qualifies as an AU story in the To Aru section.

Hope you enjoy it, I guess :)

* * *

"Do you know what a Railgun is?"

The sky was dark orange, and the clock displayed 6.30pm. In a classroom, a teacher was inside teaching only one student.

The only student answered. "A gun made from rails?"

"Kamijou, you're hopeless."

"I'm sorry."

Kamijou Touma, a boy with spiky, black hair was the only student stuck in this classroom with his form teacher, Tsukuyomi Komoe.

"A railgun is more like an electromagnetic cannon fired through rails, you understand? It's not a gun made of rails."

Even though that was what I wanted to say, but I guess the words came out wrong.

Kamijou thought as he stared at his teacher, pretending to pay attention to her further explanation on how a railgun work in detail.

Tsukuyomi Komoe was an unusually short teacher at 135cm with short, pink hair. Despite looking more like a girl who should be attending an elementary school, she was an adult (above 21 years old).

Being an overly enthusiastic teacher who wants her student to do well, remedial classes was of course set in place for the weaker students in class.

Touma just needed a "little" more attention than the rest...which explained his current situation. Every one else went home two hours earlier except for Touma.

"Alright. Class is over. See you tomorrow, Kamijou."

Komoe smiled and left the classroom.

The day was finally over.

Exiting the classroom, and stepping outside through the school gate, a cool evening breeze swept past his face.

Nagatenjouki Academy was a tough school to be in. Despite getting a B for all his subjects, Touma was considered as one of the weakest student.

I'm hungry. What should I eat? Maybe ramen? Or maybe curry rice?

The thought of food filled Touma's grumbling stomach with overwhelming positivity.

He opened his wallet, and stared at the lone 1000 yen note inside.

Negativity filled his heart like a pollutants pouring into a river.

There was supposed to be two more 1000 yen note inside. Somehow, it vanished without Touma noticing anything.

At least I could afford a bowl of ramen, it's only 700 yen.

"Such misfortune~ I'm so misfortunate that my future is as dark as the incoming night sky." Touma said in a singing voice in an attempt to cheer himself up, though it only made himself feel worse.

He had to survive on that 1000 yen for a week or sometimes even lesser for the third time in two months.

Touma glanced at the display window placed with various television brand, all of them airing the 6.30pm news.

"Mysterious disappearance of people huh?"

The incident started about three months ago. People within Japan were disappearing without a trace. Up till now, the police could not find a single clue regarding this incident. With the number of people missing exceeding over 200 people. it has escalated into a crisis.

"With my extraordinary misfortune, I wonder why I haven't been abducted and disappear without a trace like those people."

As Touma cursed himself, his older sister came to mind.

"Did she disappear like those people as well?"

Unable to accept the fact that she was adopted, Touma's older sister ran away from home about six months ago.

Touma sighed. No point in worrying anyway. He could only hope for the best.

"Get the fuck out of my way!"

Before Touma could react to that female voice behind him, he found his body being shoved aside into a man leaning on a street, engrossed in his manga.

That manga ended up in the busy road, and the cars mercilessly ran over it. At that moment, the manga had turned into something like shredded paper waste.

Touma took out his wallet, and handed the 1000 yen note to the fuming man. His limited edition manga has been sent to heaven thanks to Touma.

"You'll never be able to compensate my losses even if you sell all your assets away!"

The man snatched the note, and stomped off.

Touma stared into the imaginary abyss that has formed inside his empty wallet. He felt the abyss staring back at him with a very important question.

Can you survive for a week without money?

Faced with yet another misfortunate incident, Touma put his wallet back in his pocket and heaved a large sigh.

I'll find a way... somehow.

* * *

Misaka Mikoto, a girl with short, brown bangs sat inside a restuarant with two friends she haven't met for some time, and her ex-schoolmate, Shirai Kuroko.

"Is Nagatenjouki Academy a nice school?" Mikoto said.

Uiharu Kazari, her neighbour before Mikoto's family moved house into this city about a year ago, said.

"As a ex-student of this school, I'm sure you'll do fine over there."

"I had fun over there as well." Ruiko said.

Saten Ruiko was another friend which Mikoto met her through Kazari. Both Ruiko and Kazari were best friends from middle school onwards and Mikoto often joined them.

"Too much fun for your own good." Uiharu took a bite from her chocolate pudding, "You should have worked harder during high school."

"I was never cut out for studying anyway, Miss White Panties."

Kazari's face burned deep crimson. "How did you know?! Don't tell me..."

"Yeah yeah, I just took a small peek while you weren't noticing, that's all."

"I'm go-going to arrest you for sexual harassment! Even as a working adult in society, you never change!"

As the two carried on with their dispute, Kuroko said to Mikoto.

"Onee-sama, I'll miss you. It just feels weird without you around."

But I definitely don't miss you at all. Mikoto replied mentally.

If you think a skirt flipping pervert Saten Ruiko was bad, meet the creepy stalker fan Shirai Kuroko.

Mikoto was the top student in her school, both physically and academically. Many idolized her as the genius that can only exist in fiction.

Kuroko took that several steps further. She had about 50MB worth of pictures depicting Mikoto's daily activites inside her computer, and an mp3 containing nothing but Mikoto's voice inside.

Otherwise, Kuroko was actually a good friend, unlike those people who wanted to get close to Mikoto just for benefits.

"I'll miss you too." Mikoto said.

"Hey Uiharu," Ruiko said, "How's the investigation coming along? It's been already been more than three months."

"I don't even want to talk about it." Uiharu sighed. "It's as if they instantly evaporated into the air without any warning. I don't even understand the motive behind kidnapping so many people. And my higher ups is pressuring my team to come up with at least a clue to shut the media up that we're incompetent."

"Not even our talented Inspector Uiharu can solve this case?" Ruiko grinned, "It's okay, you can leave it to your friendly neighbourhood journalist. I'll definitely dig up something."

"Just don't get into trouble with the law again."

"Yes yes, my dear Inspector Uiharu. Say Shirai, you're from the Photography Club am I right? Are you considering a career as a journalist like me?"

"If possible, I would like to be a police officer as well." Kuroko said.

"You would make an excellent reporter though." Mikoto said.

Kuroko's stalking prowess was an invaluable asset to any news company.

"I find joining the police meaningful. I guess you can say that I just want to bring justice to those who have done wrong."

"Misaka," Ruiko said, "What are you interested in becoming one day? A police officer as well? Or maybe you can consider becoming a journalist like me. It's fun and exciting investigating cases with more freedom."

"Hmm..." Mikoto stared at her own reflection in her empty glass of fruit juice for a brief moment. "A job that can protect people from danger... you know, something like a superhero I guess."

"If only such a job existed, " Uiharu said, "Then I wouldn't be stuck doing boring admin work most of the time in my office."

What Uiharu didn't know was that a power that allowed one to become a superhero if they wanted to actually exists.

Mikoto had that power inside her pocket.

* * *

"Are you sure you'll be fine?" Uiharu said as she threw a drunk Ruiko inside a waiting cab.

Mikoto waved Uiharu's concern away with a smile, "I'll be okay, don't worry."

"But it's 1 am in the morning, and it's not safe to be alone as a girl that late out in the streets."

"I took self defense classes in school, and it's only a 30 minute walk from here."

"Still..."

"Have some faith in me, I may be a lot younger than you, but I definitely can fight better than you."

Uiharu sighed, "As stubborn as always. Take care."

"You too."

Mikoto began her 30 mintute walk back home. Most of the shops, except for that one nightclub which Mikoto walked past, were closed. There were also not much people except for the occasional drunkards stumbling around lying on the streets.

The stars glittered like diamonds on a velvet cloth, and her surroundings, quiet. What a perfect night to be taking a stroll back home.

Kuroko had school tomorrow, so she didn't join Mikoto and the rest for a karaoke session.

If only I had qualified for a scholarship in Tokiwadai instead of Nagatenjouki. I could remain in that school as a first year high school student. I take back my words, I'll definitely miss Kuroko.

The feeling of going to a new school felt like the time when her family moved house. Thrown into a new environment with no friends. Kuroko was her only true friend in Tokiwadai.

"Hey missy, you wanna have some fun with us?"

A slurring voice interrupted Mikoto's thoughts.

She turned behind to face four drunkards, clutching beer bottles and inched closer and closer like zombies.

Mikoto spun to her left, dodging a beer bottle that one of the the drunkards threw.

"Fucking answer me, you fucking bitch!"

Drunk people sure are annoying.

She sprinted across the endless row of shophouses. The four drunkards started chasing after her as well.

It looked like a zombie movie scene where the protagnoist had to run away from a group of zombies.

Mikoto glanced back, annoyed.

Do I really have to turn back and beat the shit out of them.

Against four guys, Mikoto had no confidence in winning this fight alone. She might be superior in terms of stamina, but being physically strong enough to knock out four guys was another thing.

I'm sure they'll tire faster than me so I should be fine.

She was after all an inter-school champion in the 1.5km race.

This guy... he looks familiar. His spiky, black hair especially.

"Get the fuck out of my way!"

After Mikoto pushed that guy walking in front of her aside into an alley that happened to be beside him, she realized who that guy was.

It was the same guy who she pushed aside this evening while rushing to buy a gift from a shop which closes at 7pm.

Maybe I should apologize to him if I see him again. I was too impatient.

A sharp, piercing noise rang.

Mikoto made a big U-turn and ran towards the source of the noise.

The four drunkards collapsed on the road, unable to keep up with Mikoto anymore.

"That's one less trouble to worry about."

She stopped in front of a glass pane and caught a glimpse of a gold and white spider slightly larger than the size of a human zipping past behind her through the reflection.

However, in reality, there was no such spider behind Mikoto. Yet the reflection clearly showed that there was such a spider.

The spider was a monster living inside a parallel world known as the Mirror World. Such monsters can be said to exist only inside the reflection of the world, and not on the world itself.

Those monsters were responsible for the disappearance crisis occurring within Japan. Apparently, they feed on humans to survive.

She took out a palm-sized black rectangular device and attached it to her forearm.

Only an esper like Mikoto could enter the Mirror World and destroy those monsters. The device attached to her forearm was the source of her powers.

_**Initializing... Mode: Railgun... activated.**_

Only a Level 5 esper like Mikoto had an epithet to distinguish herself from the rest. To put it simply, she was an esper who had progressed far enough to be granted an epithet.

The lowest level starts from 0 and the highest at 5.

For Mikoto who had reached the highest level, it was just another usual day killing monsters.

* * *

In exchange for food and some money to survive, Touma worked as a temporary dish washer in a restaurant.

It was a particularly busy day, and the restaurant needed more manpower, so they agreed to Touma's request when he appeared out of the blue asking for a temporary job.

Living alone sure is hard.

His parents wanted to let him become more independent, so Touma moved into a one room apartment near his school, surviving on a fixed allowance every month. Due to various suitations, he often ran out of money before the end of the month.

It was already 1am. Except for a few people who had finished their work that late in night like him, there was no else in this desolate street with all shophouses closed.

Working from 7pm to 1am earned Touma 4000 yen. With 4000 yen, he could at least survive a week on instant noodles and bread.

Somehow I managed.

Touma heaved a sigh of relief as he made his way back home. His homework was still undone, and he doubted that he had enough time to finish them anyway.

Wouldn't it be nice if my homework was magically done by a roommate who exists to solve all my problems.

Doraemon came to mind.

As Touma fantasized about Doraemon giving him gadgets to get him out of sticky situations, he heard a voice.

It was a very familiar female voice.

"Get the fuck out of my way!"

After Touma was shoved aside into the darkness, he realized who that girl was.

It was the same girl who pushed him into that man reading his manga.

Such misfortune.

To be shoved aside by the same girl twice (not to mention hearing her say the same words) was only a coincidence. What came after that was truly misfortune.

Touma felt a fist crashing into his face. Covering his face in pain, he ran out towards the light, and from the darkness emerged a man with a crooked smile holding a glass bottle.

"You'll pay for what you've done. In o-order to get your promotion, you backstabbed me?" The man said.

His unstable walking coupled with the look in his eyes suggested that he was drunk.

"I think you got the wrong person."

"Like hell!"

He charged towards Touma.

Touma sprinted away from the man with all his might. The man hurled his beer bottle towards Touma, but he missed.

It was a game of tag where Touma had to win (and usually won). Such incidents wasn't the first time for him. He could turn back and fight, but fighting should be the last resort.

Touma was not a violent person who loved fighting.

The footsteps behind him abruptly stopped, and he glanced back.

The man was no longer there.

That's impossible.

To Touma's left and right, there were only shophouses. If the man had disappeared somewhere, Touma would have heard the footsteps growing softer.

I have to get out of this place as soon as possible.

The mysterious abductor could be anywhere near this place. The man must have been another victim in the disappearance crisis.

A white string shot out from a glass window behind Touma, and grabbed his neck before hurling him inside the window.

However, he didn't land inside the building.

Touma landed at the exact place he was at. The difference was that the words and design were inverted, as if one was looking at them through a mirror.

Before Touma could blink properly, and fully analyze the situation, he found himself facing a oversized white and gold spider about his size.

"What the fuck is that...?"

He took careful step backwards away from the monster.

Inside, his mind went into utter chaos and his body trembled.

I can't fight a monster like this. Am I going to die here?

Was the mysterious abductor behind the disappearance crisis an impossibly large monster spider?

It spat out a white web string, wanting to secure its victim in place.

Touma rolled to his left and dodged it.

The spider advanced, and spat out several white balls. Instinctively, Touma dodged all of them as well.

Despite his body trembling to the point where he could not stand properly, Touma had survived against this monster for more than 10 seconds.

Touma didn't dare to turn his back against this monster. He felt that if he were to do so, this would be the end of him.

But to face the monster and fight would guarantee his end as well.

Either way, this was the end of him.

The end of his misfortunate life.

Misfortunate enough to die through an impossible way.

Or perhaps to continue living though endless bad luck was the true misfortune.

For the third time, Touma heard that female voice who pushed him aside twice.

Am I hallucinating?

Touma looked up to see a girl soaring in the air. The voice was real.

"Ah, you're still alive! I can't believe it."

It was the first time that Mikoto saw someone other than an esper alive inside this world.

While soaring in the air, she willed a card to appear in her hand. To an outsider, it was like the card had appeared out of nowhere.

Those were Advent Cards which allowed her to use the move sets available in her Railgun esper mode.

She swiped the card through the surface of her black, rectangular device attached on her forearm. A mechanical voice from the device would always read out the card she used.

_**[Sword Vent]**_

Countless iron particles descended from the sky, and formed a vibrating blade.

Mikoto landed in front of Touma, and the blade extended out like a snake fighting the oversized spider, who retaliated by spitting out white balls.

The white balls were torn into shreds the moment it came into contact with the blade.

Mikoto flicked her wrist, and the blade snapped six of the spider's legs. The remaining two legs snapped as well as it could not support the weight of the spider.

Another card appeared in her hand. Touma noticed that the card had an image of a lightning bolt piercing through a coin.

She swiped the card across her device.

_**[Final Vent]**_

Electric tendrils erupted from the ground and surrounded Mikoto in a spinning motion.

The iron particle scattered away, and she outstretched her right arm towards the paralyzed spider with a coin resting on her thumb.

Mikoto flicked the coin up. After landing perfectly back on her thumb, she flicked it forward this time.

An orange beam extended from her thumb, and blasted the spider into nothing.

A beep sounded from her device. There was a number displayed on her device.

"30? I overestimated this monster." Mikoto muttered.

Just like RPGs, espers killing monsters in the Mirror World will gain a certain amount of experience depending on the level of monster.

When enough experience is gained, the esper will level up. More variety will be obtained in the form of new cards, and cards go through power ups as well.

Touma stared at Mikoto dumbfounded.

Other than the black, rectangular device attached to Mikoto's forearm, she looked exactly like a normal teenage girl. However, she displayed extraordinary feats like wielding a vibrating iron particle blade, and firing a orange beam blasting the monster into pieces.

Just like a superhero in movies appearing just in time to save him.

"What exactly are you...?"

Mikoto grabbed Touma by the collar and lifted him up, "You probably wouldn't understand even if I explain."

"Eh?"

A few more spiders, but in different colors leaped out from windows of the buildings around them.

Without replying, Mikoto hurled Touma out of the Mirror World through a glass pane.

She regenerated the scattered iron particles back into a blade.

With just the blade, Mikoto crushed all the spiders effortlessly. All it took was a flick of the wrist, and the spiders split into pieces.

At Level 5, this was how powerful her _**[Sword Vent]**_ had advanced. Of course, the spiders themselves were weak at around Level 1 or 2, but they spawn in large numbers.

_**[Final Vent]**_

It was a mechanical voice that didn't came from her device.

Mikoto spun her body 180 degrees to intercept a white burning humanoid mass crashing down towards her at the speed of a moving race car with her blade.

The blade broke apart, and Mikoto flew backwards, slamming into the hard concrete.

It was a mechanical voice that didn't came from her device.

Mikoto spun her body 180 degrees to intercept a burning humanoid mass crashing down towards her at the speed of a moving race car with her blade.

The blade broke apart, and Mikoto flew backwards, slamming into the hard concrete.

While lying on the ground with all strength leaving her, and only pain remaining, Mikoto looked at the esper who did this to her through her hazy vision.

Like that guy she saved before, this esper had black hair as well, but it was styled smoothly to the left instead.

A card had already appeared in his hand.

_**[Strike Vent]**_

Both his hands burst into flames, and he clenched them into fists.

The guy smirked, "Ah, so you're a Level 5. What a lucky day. Everything will be all over soon."

When Mikoto managed to survive his _**[Final Vent]**_ with just her iron particle blade, he knew. No one other than a Level 5 can manage that.

The guy known as Hayato Hoshi was a Level 4 seeking to become a Level 5. Defeating this Level 5 would grant him an immense amount of experience high enough to level him to 5.

Mikoto summoned a card of her own.

_**[Spear Vent]**_

She leaped up, and her lightning spear began battling against the fiery fists, with each strike as hard as an incoming meteorite.

* * *

After being thrown out through a window by Mikoto, Touma found himself back at the same place where he was at, except that the girl who saved him just now and the monster spider was gone.

A strong sense of disorientation hit Touma.

Am I still in Earth?

The spider dragged him through the window, and he ended up in this same place he stood at now. Mikoto threw him out through a window, and he ended up in that same place again.

Touma noticed that the words displayed on the shophouses were no longer inverted. Before that, the place where the spider appeared had inverted words displayed on the shophouses.

He was back in Earth.

I have to report this to the police right now!

A monster spider was behind the disappearance crisis by dragging people into an alternate parallel dimension.

But what can the police do? Would they even believe me?

A strange scene caught his eye.

Through a reflection of a glass window, Touma saw that girl fighting another guy on the road behind him. However, Touma turned behind, and saw nothing.

What's going on...?

A man with long, white hair appeared on the reflection of another glass window. He had a face which looked like an adult, yet also a child; like a man, yet also a woman; like a saint, yet also a criminal. He was someone who gave off an aura of a powerful being beyond this world.

"Do you wish to become an esper?"

"Wh-What?"

From the reflection, Mikoto's spear broke into tiny iron particles scattering around her like snow, and a fist from the guy fighting Mikoto sent her crashing onto the asphalt.

The impact caused a crater to be formed. Mikoto laid inside that crater.

"If you become an esper, you'll have the power to save this girl. She'll be killed by this guy if you don't do anything."

"I..."

The guy advanced towards Mikoto summoned a card in his hand.

Touma noticed that Mikoto did a similar action just now, and she fired a powerful orange beam after swiping that card through the device.

Despite not knowing what being an esper entails, and what exactly was going on, Touma decided that saving the girl was most important.

He didn't have time to hesitate about his decision. After all, this girl had saved his life just now.

"... Ok, I'll become one."

If anything bad happens to me, I'll just accept my misfortune.

A black, palm-sized rectangular device appeared on Touma's right hand. It was the same device that Touma saw on Mikoto's forearm.

"Attach it to your left or right forearm to transform into an esper, and you can enter the Mirror World to rescue that girl."

The man disappeared after saying that.

Mirror World is it... I understand now.

The alternate parallel dimension was basically a copy of this world, but reflected through a mirror. No wonder he saw Mikoto fighting a guy on the road behind him through a reflection, but he turned behind to see nothing.

Touma attached the device to his left forearm.

_**Initializing... Mode: Imagine Breaker... activated.**_

And he hopped inside the glass window.

* * *

Mikoto shook as she got up. She didn't have enough strength to keep herself standing properly anymore.

A Level 5 like her, disgraced to such a pathetic state.

If I don't escape, I might really end up killed by him.

Hoshi looked at the card in his hand and said.

"Be honored that you'll die under a one-of-a-kind card."

"One-of-a-kind...? Don't tell me!"

Mikoto summoned a card as well.

Hoshi nodded in self-satisfaction, "It's a card rumored to be so powerful that not even a Level 5's Final Vent can fully absorb the damage caused by this card."

"How did you get it?"

"It just appeared in my moveset as a reward for advancing to Level 4. Sadly, it's a permanent one-time use unlike my other Vent Cards, so I've been reserving this card for a Level 5 like you."

Mikoto had used her _**[Final Vent]**_, so she couldn't use it anymore until her next transformation.

_**[Final Vent] **_was her most powerful card. If she could use it, at least she would still be alive against the card that Hoshi was about to use. Other Vents just wasn't powerful enough, and will not guarantee her survival.

"I won't give up just like that."

_**[Guard Vent]**_

A swirling iron particle wall surrounded Mikoto and expanded outwards, creating a 4 by 4m radius around Mikoto.

Hoshi laughed, "I was expecting something better."

_**[Breaker Vent]**_

He trembled as overwhelming power surged into him. His entire body turned into translucent blue before blasting forth, striking the wall with such great impact that a loud noise which shattered the glass of nearby windows rang.

After two seconds, the wall broke down, and it continued advancing towards Mikoto.

This was the fate of an esper.

To kill, or be killed.

Mikoto sighed with a slight smile, embracing the translucent blue symbol of death.

"I wonder who's going to make breakfast for them tomorrow... when I'm go-."

The mechanical voice which belonged to neither of their devices stunned Mikoto.

_**[Negation Vent]**_

A guy with spiky, black hair had appeared out of nowhere, and knocked Hoshi backwards when his body came into contact with his outstretched right hand.

"Wh-What is this guy?!"

For so long, the Negation Vent had been just a legendary card which existed in rumors.

To think that this guy has such a powerful card...

Not wanting to take his chances, Hoshi fled the scene before the boy could do anything to him. He might have something more incredible than _**[****Negation ****Vent]**._

"Are you okay?" Touma said.

Mikoto blinked.

Just moments ago, she saved his life from a weak spider. Moments later, she was saved by this black, spiky-haired guy against a much more powerful esper.

"If you're an esper, then why were you so scared against a spider? You could transform even when you're directly inside the Mirror World, you know?"

"I became an esper just seconds ago to save you. I don't even understand how to activate my esper powers."

At that time, Touma acted out of his instincts, threw himself in front of Mikoto and stretched out his right hand to stop the transparent blue humanoid energy from killing her.

"A Level 1 like you holding such a powerful card? That's ridiculous. You must be at least a Level 5. And what is it about becoming an esper to save me? Aren't you already one since you're a Level 5?"

"Level 1? Level 5? What do you mean?"

Mikoto narrowed her eyes, "Are you trying to be funny?"

"Why do I get the feeling that I'm supposed to know everything."

"That's because you're a freaking Level 5 with such a legendary card in your moveset. I've never seen a Level 1 holding such a powerful card before."

Touma sighed, "Look here. I still don't understand what you mean by Level 5, but I have a more important question to ask. Why was that guy trying to kill you?"

"You really don't know?"

"No."

The guy with the long, white hair must have given this newbie esper a Level 5 device from the start. He must be an extremely fortunate guy. And to think so many lives have been killed just to reach that level alone.

"Didn't he tell you about it?"

"Tell what?"

Mikoto looked at the night sky with a small, tired smile.

"The Esper Royale. The last esper standing will win a wish. Any wish. That's why espers are fighting each other to win the battle."

"That's why he wanted to kill you?"

Mikoto nodded and looked at Touma apologetically, "By the way, I'm sorry that I dragged you into this."

"For what?"

"You became an esper to save me right?" Mikoto looked down, her face turning red in embarrassment, and her heart weighed down with guilt.

"If you don't win this battle, you'll be killed. This is the fate of becoming an esper. To kill or be killed. You might even get killed while fighting a stronger monster but you're a Level 5 so I'm particularly worried about that. A newbie having a Level 5's moveset is better than a newbie with a Level 1's moveset."

Touma smiled.

It threw Mikoto off. This was an unexpected response from him.

"What can I say, I'm just misfortunate. Just like always."


End file.
